La Amistad National Park

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION
The park lies in the foothills and mountains of Cordillera de Talamanca between the mountain ranges of Las Vueltas, Cartago and Echandi on the Panamanian/Costa Rican border.

PHYSICAL FEATURES
The Cordillera de Talamanca is the highest and wildest non-volcanic mountain range in Central America. It was formed by the orogenic activity which created the land dividing the Pacific Ocean from the Caribbean. A long period of marine deposition in the shallow surrounding seas up until the Middle Miocene was followed by a period of marine volcanism, which included the intrusion of a huge granitic batholith and the uplifting of the whole area to some 4,000m above sea level during the Plio-Quaternary orogenesis. The resulting peneplain has been gradually eroded due to heavy rainfall, creating a rugged topography with many slopes inclined at over 60° . During the Quaternary, glaciers carved cirque lakes and steep valleys on the slopes of Chirripó National Park, the only area in Central America to show signs of glaciation. Most soils are poorly evolved inceptisols (leached soils).

CLIMATE
Average temperatures range from above 25° C near sea level to -8° C on the highest peaks. Mean annual precipitation varies from around 2000mm near the Caribbean coast to more than 6000mm on some high montane areas.

VEGETATION
Tropical rain forests have covered most of the area since at least the last glaciations, about 25,000 years ago. Of the twelve life zones of Costa Rica, at least eight occur in the park, including lowland tropical rain forest, cloud forest, sub-alpine paramo forests, pure oak stands, lakes of glacial origin and high altitude bogs. The latter four communities are not found elsewhere in Central America. The area also contains all five altitudinal zones found in the tropics. Most of the main crest lies within montane rain forest, characterised by mixed oak forest; a dense, low and heavily covered forest with bryophytes, ferns, bromeliads, orchids and other epiphytes. Below 2,500m lower montane rain forest occurs and the forest is generally more mixed. The Talamanca Mountains contain the largest tracts of virgin forest in Costa Rica. On high points along the ridge, at elevations above 2,900-3,100m, frequent stands of paramo, swamps, cold marshes and Aretostaphylos arbustoides occur. The paramo located on Mt Kamuk contains the richest and most varied vegetation (after Chirripó) in the entire Talamanca Range and is the only one in Costa Rica that shows no signs of human intervention. Species diversity is perhaps unequalled in any other reserve of equivalent size in the world, due to the convergence of the floras of North and South America and varied climatic and edaphic factors. It includes some 9,000 flowering plant, more than 4,000 non-vascular plant, 80% of the country's moss, about 900 lichen and approximately 1,000 fern species. Levels of endemism are estimated between 30-40% (Anon, n.d.).

FAUNA
The fauna is extremely diverse, with intermigrations from both North and South America. Studies indicate that one out of the 115 species of fish, 20 out of the 250 species of reptile and amphibian, 13 out of the 215 species of mammal and 15 of the 560 species of birds are endemic to the reserve. Signs of tapir Tapirus terrestris (LR), possibly of a species as yet unrecorded in Costa Rica, are abundant at Cerros Utyum, Kamuk and Fabrega near the Panamanian border. All Central American felines are found including puma Felis concolor, ocelot F. pardalis, jaguarundi F. yagouaroundi, tiger cat F. tigrina, and the jaguar Panthera onca (LR) and also Central American tapir Tapirus bairdii (VU), Central American squirrel monkey Saimiri oerstedii (EN) and Geoffroy's spider monkey Ateles geoffroyi. A green and black high-altitude viper Bothrops negrivisidis, that has rarely been seen or collected, is present. Resplendent quetzal Pharomacrus mocinno (LR) is present in the park as are many other bird species, such as bare-necked umbrella bird Cephalopterus glabricollis (VU), three-wattled bellbird Procnias tricarunculata (VU), harpy eagle Harpia harpyia (LR), crested eagle Morphnus guianensis (LR), solitary eagle Harpyhaliaetus solitarius (LR) and orange-breasted falcon Falco deiroleucus (LR). It has been suggested that no other park is the world possesses as many species and such a wealth of fauna. La Amistad includes nine of the elevan birds listed as 'endangered' by Costa Rica, 13 of their 16 'endangered' mammals, and all their reptiles and amphibians.

LA AMISTAD PARK
GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION The park lies in the foothills and mountains of Cordillera de Talamanca between the mountain ranges of Las Vueltas, Cartago and Echandi on the Panamanian/Costa Rican border. PHYSICAL FEATURES The Cordillera de Talamanca is the highest and wildest non-volcanic mountain range in Central America. It was formed by the orogenic activity which created the land dividing the Pacific Ocean from the Caribbean. A long period of marine deposition in the shallow surrounding seas up until the Middle Miocene was followed by a period of marine volcanism, which included the intrusion of a huge granitic batholith and the uplifting of the whole area to some 4,000m above sea level during the Plio-Quaternary orogenesis. The resulting peneplain has been gradually eroded due to heavy rainfall, creating a rugged topography with many slopes inclined at over 60° . During the Quaternary, glaciers carved cirque lakes and steep valleys on the slopes of Chirripó National Park, the only area in Central America to show signs of glaciation. Most soils are poorly evolved inceptisols (leached soils). CLIMATE Average temperatures range from above 25° C near sea level to -8° C on the highest peaks. Mean annual precipitation varies from around 2000mm near the Caribbean coast to more than 6000mm on some high montane areas. VEGETATION Tropical rain forests have covered most of the area since at least the last glaciations, about 25,000 years ago. Of the twelve life zones of Costa Rica, at least eight occur in the park, including lowland tropical rain forest, cloud forest, sub-alpine paramo forests, pure oak stands, lakes of glacial origin and high altitude bogs. The latter four communities are not found elsewhere in Central America. The area also contains all five altitudinal zones found in the tropics. Most of the main crest lies within montane rain forest, characterised by mixed oak forest; a dense, low and heavily covered forest with bryophytes, ferns, bromeliads, orchids and other epiphytes. Below 2,500m lower montane rain forest occurs and the forest is generally more mixed. The Talamanca Mountains contain the largest tracts of virgin forest in Costa Rica. On high points along the ridge, at elevations above 2,900-3,100m, frequent stands of paramo, swamps, cold marshes and Aretostaphylos arbustoides occur. The paramo located on Mt Kamuk contains the richest and most varied vegetation (after Chirripó) in the entire Talamanca Range and is the only one in Costa Rica that shows no signs of human intervention. Species diversity is perhaps unequalled in any other reserve of equivalent size in the world, due to the convergence of the floras of North and South America and varied climatic and edaphic factors. It includes some 9,000 flowering plant, more than 4,000 non-vascular plant, 80% of the country's moss, about 900 lichen and approximately 1,000 fern species. Levels of endemism are estimated between 30-40% (Anon, n.d.). FAUNA The fauna is extremely diverse, with intermigrations from both North and South America. Studies indicate that one out of the 115 species of fish, 20 out of the 250 species of reptile and amphibian, 13 out of the 215 species of mammal and 15 of the 560 species of birds are endemic to the reserve. Signs of tapir Tapirus terrestris (LR), possibly of a species as yet unrecorded in Costa Rica, are abundant at Cerros Utyum, Kamuk and Fabrega near the Panamanian border. All Central American felines are found including puma Felis concolor, ocelot F. pardalis, jaguarundi F. yagouaroundi, tiger cat F. tigrina, and the jaguar Panthera onca (LR) and also Central American tapir Tapirus bairdii (VU), Central American squirrel monkey Saimiri oerstedii (EN) and Geoffroy's spider monkey Ateles geoffroyi. A green and black high-altitude viper Bothrops negrivisidis, that has rarely been seen or collected, is present. Resplendent quetzal Pharomacrus mocinno (LR) is present in the park as are many other bird species, such as bare-necked umbrella bird Cephalopterus glabricollis (VU), three-wattled bellbird Procnias tricarunculata (VU), harpy eagle Harpia harpyia (LR), crested eagle Morphnus guianensis (LR), solitary eagle Harpyhaliaetus solitarius (LR) and orange-breasted falcon Falco deiroleucus (LR). It has been suggested that no other park is the world possesses as many species and such a wealth of fauna. La Amistad includes nine of the elevan birds listed as 'endangered' by Costa Rica, 13 of their 16 'endangered' mammals, and all their reptiles and amphibians.